| The Tree of Life Shtender: The Sabbath Candelabra
“He made the menorah out of pure gold, hammering the menorah along with its base, stem, and decorative cups, spheres and flowers out of a single piece of metal. Six branches extended from the menorah’s sides, three on one and three on the other. There were three embossed cups, a sphere and a flower to each branch. This was true of all six branches extending from the menorah.†– Exodus 140:17
The Tree of Life Sabbath Menorah, a seven-branched almond sprig intricately carved from a solid block of walnut wood, alludes to the Menorah in the Temple which was molded from a single piece of gold.
The branches of the original Menorah were meshukadim (decorated) with cups, spheres, and flowers. From the same Hebrew root is the word shaked, almond. Thus the almond motif was deemed most appropriate for our Sabbath Menorah, illustrating the intrinsic and organic connection between the mishkan (the tabernacle) and the Sabbath, so much so that the Sabbath has even been called “a temple in time†(Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath).
The verses regarding the keeping of the Sabbath are juxtaposed in the Torah with those regarding the building of the mishkan, and the categories of tasks prohibited on the Sabbath are precisely those required to build the mishkan. These form the entire basis for the halachic structure of Shabbat.
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